Breakdown
by Sheryl Nantus
Summary: Even Pepper Potts can have a bad day.


Breakdown

Setting: 2008 Movieverse

Pairing: Tony/Pepper

Rating: M (for language and sexual references)

Synopsis: Even Pepper Potts has bad days…

"Sir?"

"Hmm?" Tony Stark looked up from the computer screen. "Yes, Jarvis?"

"Sir, I think there's something you need to look at." The schematics disappeared, replaced with a black and white image of the garage.

"It's the garage." Tony propped up his chin on one hand. "Security footage."

"Yes, sir." The camera zoomed in on the lone black Audi sitting in one of the three empty spaces for visitors and staff; discreetly placed a good distance from the workshop and Stark's antique car collection.

"And that's Pepper's car." A frown appeared on the inventor's face. "Is this real-time, Jarvis?"

"Yes, sir." The mechanical voice held a note of concern. "As you may or may not have noticed, Ms Potts arrived a half-hour ago."

"Yes, yes she did. She was at the office; something about checking up on some manifests for me." Tony mumbled, his eyes narrowing. "Can you zoom in on the driver's seat? Is she okay?"

The camera rushed in on the woman sitting inside the car; the grainy black and white picture resolving itself into sharper images.

There was no mistaking it. Pepper Potts was sitting in her car, crying. Her left hand shook as she dabbed at her eyes with tissue; her head resting on the window.

"Jarvis, stop her from leaving. Shut the garage doors, secure the house, do whatever you need to do until I get there." Pushing himself away from the desk Stark got to his feet. "Don't let her drive out of here."

"Affirmative, sir." The voice followed him as he ran down through the workshop and into the small inner garage.

Tony skidded to a stop upon seeing Dummy, in full fire-fighting mode, directly in front of the Audi with nozzle pointed at the windshield. Upon spotting Tony the "head" swiveled towards him.

"Nah-ah! I'm not even wearing the suit!" He yelled as the nozzle swiveled back and forth between the hood of the car and his chest. "Stay! Stay!" The robot didn't move as Stark advanced on the vehicle, pulling the passenger door open and sliding in.

"I'm so donating him to the local community college." Tony sighed.

"What the fuck is going on?" Pepper sniffled, wiping her nose.

His eyebrows rose. "Why, Ms Potts… such language. I don't appreciate that in my employees."

"Fuck off." The redhead stared straight ahead. "And tell Dummy to move or you'll be rebuilding him."

"Whoa." He let out a low whistle. "Okay, we're really pissed off here."

"In ways and dimensions you can't even begin to comprehend." She growled. "Now get the fuck out of my car and let me go home."

"You're dressed sort of casual for the office." He gestured to the jeans and cream-colored blouse; her hair down and flowing across her shoulders. "Not that I mind, but what's the occasion?"

"Casual-the-fuck-Wednesday." Her knuckles went white as she gripped the steering wheel. "I'll send you an update when I get home but right now I just want to get out of here."

"Pepper, you're in no condition to drive." Tony dropped his voice to what he hoped was a low and soothing tone. "You can't drive like this. Let's go inside and talk. I don't like seeing you upset like this."

The driver's side door flew open as she flew out of the car, banging her hand on Dummy's head as she strode by. Dummy responded by firing off the extinguisher, enveloping the car in a white cloud from which Tony struggled to extricate himself from.

"Pepper! Pepper!" He coughed, staggering towards the workshop. "Damn it, Dummy…"

Skidding to a stop Tony stared at Pepper as she cradled one of the Iron Man gauntlets in her hands, eyeing it with an eagerness that both scared and excited him.

"No offense, Pep… but you really don't have the equipment for that." He grinned, spreading his hands out.

She threw the metal hand at him with a scowl; the heavy weight smashing into his chest as she spun around and stomped out of sight.

"Pepper? Pepper?" Putting the gauntlet back down on the workbench he glanced up. "Jarvis?"

"Ms Potts is currently on the ground floor." Jarvis's voice boomed through the workshop as Tony ran towards the steps.

"How can she run so fast in high heels…" The dark-haired man huffed as he trotted up onto the ground floor of the Malibu residence.

"Ms Potts is in the main bathroom." Jarvis paused. "And has locked the door."

"What?" Stark skidded to a stop in front of the closed wooden door. "When did we put locks on the bathroom door?"

"After that incident with the Iranian Ambassador's daughter, if you recall."

"Oh." Tony licked his lips. "I forgot that one."

"Yes, obviously." The computer's voice held a hint of sarcasm. "However, the locks remain."

"Okay. Just tell Dummy to stand down until I get down there to dismantle him." He knocked on the door. "Pep? This isn't exactly how a mature woman deals with a problem."

"Screw you." The muffled response came through the door.

"There's a door between us, otherwise I'd be tempted." Tony tugged on the doorknob. "Come on, Pepper, work with me here." Turning around he leaned against the door, sliding down to sit on the carpeted floor. "I'm just trying to help, you know."

A loud sniffle reached his ears in response. "You don't know how hard it is to be a woman and work for you, Tony Stark."

"Well… no." He spread his hands. "Although now I have some interesting images in my mind's eye…"

"Stop it!" She yelled. "Not everything is a fucking joke!"

Tony dropped his hands to rest on his jeans. "I'm sorry. I'm just really worried about you."

"I know." A deep sigh traveled through the door. "And I understand. But you just don't know…"

"Know what, Pep? How I can be a bastard? How I've wasted years of my life in debauchery that would put the Marquis de Sade to shame? How I'm a borderline alcoholic? What don't I know?" His voice rose. "I told you down in the workshop that you were all I had and I meant it. So don't get all pissy with me because I give a fuck about you outside of the business world!" The back of his head smacked into the door.

"I'm sorry." The whisper brought tears to his eyes. "I'm sorry, Tony. It's just… some days things are harder to deal with than others."

"Why don't you take tomorrow off? Jarvis, book Pepper into the spa for a day – all the bells and whistles." He waved a hand in the air. "Total."

"I don't need a day off." The protestations, punctuated with a series of hiccups prompted a half-smile from the inventor. "Besides, what are you going to do without me?"

"I'll survive." Reaching behind him Tony rapped his knuckles on the door. "I've almost got my social security number memorized. Well, another number anyway."

A loud click brought him to his feet. "Jarvis, call Happy. He's going to drive Pepper home tonight and then take her to the spa tomorrow."

The door opened a fraction of an inch; a single bloodshot eye peering out. "I'm sorry."

Putting his right palm on the door Stark pushed it open, stepping in and wrapping his arms around the weepy woman. "You never have to apologize to me, Pepper. Never." Dropping a kiss on the top of her head he rubbed her back with one hand. "Just go home and enjoy a break tomorrow. You deserve that much, at least."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea." She sniffled again, drawing her up to her full height and pulling away from her boss. "Just a bad day."

"I understand." Stark nodded, leading her out of the bathroom. "Besides, Happy was getting bored with me staying in so much. Make him earn his salary for the week."

"I'll send you a report when I get home." The redhead reached for her non-existent Blackberry. "Damn. I left it in the car."

"Where it can stay until tomorrow." Grabbing her elbow he gently but forcefully led her towards the front door. "There's nothing that can't wait until you're calmer and feeling better. I don't need you to get sick."

"Okay." Pepper let her breath out slowly, leaning into her boss's side as they waited. "It's just… some things you think you've gotten away from and then you find out nothing's really changed."

"Gotten all philosophical on me, have you?" He smiled as she chuckled in response. "Let me get out some Dr. Seuss and we can exchange words of wisdom later."

Ten minutes later he watched the car disappear down the driveway, hands in his pockets and a blissful grin on his face.

A minute after that he slammed the front door shut. "Jarvis, I want everything you have on what she did today. Every. Thing."

"Affirmative, sir." The voice followed him down into the workshop. "Today seems to have been a rather light workload for Ms Potts. A board meeting that lasted all morning, a conference call after lunch for two hours with our overseas offices regarding the new charities you wanted set up and then she returned here to pick up her car and…" Jarvis went silent. "I believe I might have found something, sir. Please direct your attention to the monitor."

Tony stood in front of the screen, arms crossed and an intense look on his face.

"This is from Stark Industries." He frowned as a black-and-white Pepper, strangely unfamiliar with her hair down and not in her power business suit, was stopped in the main lobby; leaning against the wall as she spoke to two unfamiliar men. The body language was enough to have him grinding his teeth. "There's no audio, Jarvis."

"We don't have microphones in the main lobby." The mechanical voice chided him. "However, I can utilize a lip-reading program and voice the results."

The images resolved themselves with the dialogue coming out of the speakers.

"Hey, sweetie!" The young man grinned as the personal assistant stopped and turned. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She stared at him for a second. "I'm sorry, I don't remember…"

"Kenny. Kenny Oboroa." The dark-haired man didn't offer his hand. "And my brother Lenny. Yes, our parents had a sense of humor."

The identical twin appeared beside him, grinning even wider. Both were dressed in similar suits; short hair slicked back with gel. "We're new here. Recent hiring surge and all that." He poked his brother in the ribs. "Starting at the bottom but not planning to stay there long, so we're looking for a little info on the inside workings of Stark here and figured you were a secretary or something and we'd like to get on the fast track as fast as possible."

"Excuse me?" She pulled a stray strand of loose hair out of her eyes. "A secretary? Me?"

"So, sweetie – what's your name?" Kenny asked, leaning in towards her with a wide smile.

"Virgina." Pepper deadpanned, pulling her clipboard tight to her chest to cover her identification tag. "I'm a personal assistant to one of the CEO's."

"Cool, babe." Lenny nodded. "So let's get friendly, have a few drinks and you can give us the lowdown on Tony Stark."

"The lowdown?" The redhead frowned. "What exactly are you asking about?"

"Tony. You know, your 'boss'?" Kenny's fingers made air quotes. "Look, we're new but we know how the game goes. And we wanted to tell you that if you want to hop on our bandwagon we'd be glad to take you for a ride."

The leer from Lenny sent a shudder through Stark's stomach as he watched.

Pepper leaned against the wall, unfazed. "And what bandwagon would that be?"

"Look, babe." Kenny put one hand against the panel, uncomfortably close to the redhead. "Stark's on his way out. He's breaking down after that Afghani crap and this Iron Man schtick isn't going to last long. Besides, he hasn't gotten laid for months and that's got to be part of his problem." He licked his lips. "Unless you know different."

She glared at him. "Mr. Stark's personal life is none of my business. Or yours."

"Oh, come on!" Lenny rolled his eyes. "We know Tony Stark was a whoremonger of the first degree." He leaned in. "We just want a bit of his sloppy seconds. I mean, we're going to be the big names soon and if you're smart you'll play along. You help us out, give us the info we need and we make sure you get the pretty clothes and toys you women like."

Tony's hands curled into fists.

"I don't think so." She didn't flinch as one of the brothers reached out and touched her face with a single finger, drawing it down her cheek. "And I think that when Mr. Stark finds out exactly what you're all about that he'll be kicking your asses to the curb."

Kenny laughed. "Oh, right. Like Mr. 'Twelve for twelve with the Maxim models' is going to give a shit about what we're doing as long as we produce results." He tapped his chest. "We graduated in the top two percentile at M.I.T., bitch. We're going up, you're going down." Another undisguised leer. "Bet you give pretty good ones to Stark, hmm?"

"Maybe she likes to watch." Lenny moved in. "Maybe he makes her watch. Maybe she makes him her bitch. Wouldn't surprise me a bit; bitchslap that fucker down a notch. Bet he's doing half the women in this building."

"That's enough." Slapping the hand away from her face Pepper moved out of reach. "You're both playing with fire."

"Oh, right." Lenny chuckled. "Like anyone's really going to listen to what you say. You're just a glorified secretary and we've got fucking degrees from M.I.T. You're not going anywhere as long as we're around. Unless we decide to toss you a bone. Or two." The shorter of the two brothers shrugged. "And you're not getting any younger, honey. Bet those eggs are already powdered."

The redhead spun on one heel and walked away from the two laughing men, pushing her way through the crowd and exiting the front doors and out of sight of the cameras.

"Jarvis, cut coverage." Tony sat back in the chair. "Pull up everything you can find on those two bastards."

The next morning, as per his instructions, Happy Hogan picked up a somewhat confused Pepper Potts, dropping her off at the private SI spa then speeding over to pick up Tony Stark. Who was standing outside in the bright morning sun waiting for him for the first time in recent memory. Before Happy could even put the car into park Stark had hopped into the back seat.

"The office, Happy. And step on it; I don't want to be late."

"Yes, sir." The limo jumped forward, merging easily into the morning traffic. "Problem, boss?" The driver looked in the rear view mirror. "You look like you're about to bust someone's head open."

"Do I?" The dark-haired man adjusted his dress shirt and tie; tugging on the suit jacket. "I'm just going in for a day at the office. Been too long since I made an appearance, it seems."

"Yes, sir."

"Happy, how did she look?"

His eyes met Stark's in the mirror. "Pretty tired, to be honest. Kinda whipped, if you know what I'm talking about."

"Hmm." Tony stared out the window, reaching for a water bottle. "Picking her up at five?"

"She told me one. Said she wanted to check in at the office before calling it a day."

"I'm telling you five. You're with me until five. Text her and tell her so."

"Yes, sir. But she's going to be annoyed."

"I can live with that." He smiled, his lips tightly pressed together. "I can live with that."

The security guard at the front door of Stark Industries did a double-take as the limo pulled up; Happy moving to open the rear car door. Snapping to attention the officer pulled his shoulders back in the too-tight black blazer and waited for his employer to appear.

"Who are you?" Tony Stark stopped in front of him, sunglasses hiding all emotion.

"David Henson, sir." The young man swallowed. "It's an honor to finally meet you, sir. I've read a lot about your work and…"

"If you want a promotion out of this post then follow me and do what I say." Without waiting for a response the CEO of Stark Industries walked into his building.

The main lobby was filled with the morning rush of people; the circular security desk situated by the banks of elevators manned by a pair of older men who reacted much the same way as their counterpart.

"Have they arrived yet?" Tony stopped in front of the marble desk.

"Yes, sir." The senior officer looked down at the computer monitors. "They just pulled into the parking lot a few minutes ago."

"Good." Turning around Stark tugged on his sleeves and stood up straight. "Remind me to take you boys on a tour of my workshop sometime…"

The two brothers entered the building through the front doors, strolling towards the elevators with their laptops under their arms and whistling a jaunty tune in two-bit harmony until the pair of guards moved to stand in front of them.

"What the fuck?" Kenny snarled. "Do you know who we are?"

"Yes, yes they do." The dark-haired man moved to stand between the guards and the twins. "Do you know who I am?"

Lenny's face went pale. "You're Tony Stark."

"Ten points, Sparky. Which fucktard are you?"

"Sir?" Lenny squeaked.

"Which fucking idiot are you? Lenny or Kenny?"

"Lenny. He's Kenny." The slender man pointed to the man beside him.

"Good. Not that it really matters; you won't be here long enough to get anyone to know or remember who you are." Clearing his throat Stark continued. "Yesterday you chatted up a secretary right here in my lobby."

"Oh, the redhead." Kenny smiled, and then shrugged. "Nice babe. A little old for my tastes, but she'll do in a pinch." His forehead furrowed. "Whoa… didn't mean to step on your turf, boss. All she had to say was that she was with you and we'd have left her alone."

Stark's left eyebrow twitched.

"We were just asking, you know, about what was going on." Lenny began to babble, a thin line of sweat appearing on his forehead. "I mean, getting a feel for the girls. So to speak." He elbowed his brother. "We're all men here, you know."

"No, I don't know." The low voice rumbled out of Tony's chest. "What I do know is that you said to this 'secretary' that you were planning to take over my company. Not to mention the sexual harassment of one of my employees. That I know of."

"What, that bitch?" Kenny scoffed. "Mr. Stark, you can't believe what these girls say. They'll do anything to hook a husband and just because we wouldn't take her out for drinks, well…" He spread his hands with a grin. "We all know how women are."

"Again, 'we' don't." Stepping forward Tony reached up and poked Lenny in the middle of his chest, hard.

"Ow!" The young man flinched, falling back a step.

"That 'bitch' was Pepper Potts. And she's got more education and experience that you puppies can or ever will in this world." His attention turned to Kenny.

Another sharp poke of the finger.

"Hey!" Kenny didn't step back; holding his ground. "Don't get all annoyed with us 'cause your girlfriend likes to play games."

"What?" Stark's voice dropped another octave.

"She was playing with us; teasing us. You know their type." Kenny shrugged again. "Maybe she was just feeling lonely and wanted some company…" His voice trailed off as he watched Tony pull one hand out of his pocket and hold it up to Kenny's face, palm open. His eyes went wide as he stared at the empty hand inches away.

"You're lucky I'm not in the mood to test something today." Stark growled. "Otherwise I can promise you that it would have been painful and not in a good, fun way." The hands lowered. "As it is, you're both terminated immediately. And don't even think of applying to any Stark Industries affiliates; I'm letting them all know exactly what sort of characters you two are." He adjusted his sunglasses. "For a pair of geniuses, you're sure stupid." Spinning on one heel he nodded to the security guards. "Kick them the hell off of my property. And take those laptops down to Tech Support to be scanned and wiped."

"You can't do this!" Lenny's shrill cry brought Stark back around. The young man clutched his laptop to his chest like a life preserver. "We're geniuses! We're going to be millionaires!"

"Perhaps. But not on my watch." Stark jerked his thumb towards the doors. "And I'm getting a restraining order on you two not only for every inch of Stark Industries property but also for Pepper Potts, the best damned personal assistant in the world. And if you even hint at talking to the media or anyone other than your priest in the confessional about this I'll make sure that you're not only unemployable but also up on charges for corporate espionage and a plethora of other charges, including sexual harassment." He leaned in, looking over the top of his sunglasses at Lenny. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Kenny grabbed his brother's arm. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

The pair trotted along behind the pair of guards, leaving Stark behind with the young officer.

"That went about as well as I expected." Tony looked at Henson. "I have a new assignment for you." He glanced around the room, noting the curious glances being shot towards the two of them. "As soon as those two come back from kicking those dolts out of my parking lot, you go empty their desks and send everything to me. Everything. I want their paperclips, their pencils, their post-it notes. Everything."

"Yes, sir." The officer nodded politely.

"Thanks." He stretched out his hand.

Hanson paused and then smiled as they shook hands. "Pleasure to work for you, Mr. Stark."

"As it should be." The inventor leaned in. "And if you overhear anything like what I'm talking about here, call me direct. You understand?"

"Clearly, sir."

"Good. I'll be in my office for the rest of the day." Ignoring the curious glances following him Tony strode out of the lobby.

The shadows had skipped across the carpet from one side of the room to the other as Tony rubbed his eyes; leaning back in the office chair. His jacket lay on the floor along with the tie, discarded hours ago. The stack of folders had barely diminished from one side of his desk while the empty water bottles had managed to not only fill the wastebasket to his right but also begun expanding into the far corner.

"Tony?" The familiar voice startled him; jolting him upright.

Pepper stood in the doorway, wearing a light grey t-shirt and jeans; her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Uh…" His eyes darted to the computer monitor. "Not early?"

"It's six o'clock. Happy came to get me at five and told me that you hadn't left here since this morning." She stared at the piles of documents. "What have you been doing?"

"Work. Stuff. You know, what I should have been doing for months." One weary finger tapped the three-inch thick folder to his left. "Obi left a hell of a trail behind him. S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to have a field day trying to track all these people down."

"Hmm." She walked around the desk. "A lot of paperwork." Leaning on an empty spot the redhead crossed her arms. "Been a busy day?"

"Yep." He swiveled the chair towards her. "Book me in for at least three days a week here."

"At the office?" One eyebrow rose as Pepper watched his face. "Here?"

"Pep, Obi didn't take over my company in a vacuum. I let him by not paying attention to what was going on here, right here." One hand landed on the stack of folders. "What he did wasn't illegal, not at all. He just put the right people in power in the right places and I didn't pay attention because I was too busy having fun or screwing around in my workshop."

The other eyebrow rose at the last sentence. "Usually not in the workshop."

He grinned. "Well, not since the entire incident with the soldering iron. But still, I let this happen because I wasn't keeping track of things. My father built this company and I let it fester under Stane's control. I can't let that happen again."

"Admirable." Sliding off the desktop she nodded. "However, it's now past quitting time and you look exhausted."

"Hmm." Stark took a deep breath. "Well, how about cheeseburgers and fries while you educate me on the finer points of these invoices?" He chuckled. "Because I can't make head or tails out of this and I thought I was pretty smart."

"You are." Pepper strolled to the door, holding it open. "But don't get too comfortable firing employees. It's a bad precedent to have the head of a company jumping dumb kids at the front door and making a scene."

"All part of being the boss." Tony got up from the chair with a groan. "Okay, maybe three days a week regular hours." He arched back; one hand on his lower spine. "Oh, and a visit to the chiropractor every week."

"Keep flying that suit and you'll need it." She waited for him, a sly smile on her face. "You're not getting any younger, you know."

"Ah, you wound me." He clutched at his shirt. "Besides, it's not like you haven't seen me walk funny before."

"I thought we agreed not to talk about that." The redhead strolled ahead of him as they headed out of the office. "I still might need therapy for that…"


End file.
